MARCH 2017

COTSWOLD NEWS

Cotswold School students brought the

‘electricity’ of Billy Elliot to the stage

in their annual school

production. Sell-out audiences were

treated to fantastic dance and music

against the dramatic, emotionally

charged backdrop of the 1980’s pit

closures – all delivered by a cast, crew,

choreographers and musicians of over

80 pupils from Years 7 to 13.

Mrs Miriam Monk, the show’s director

and Head of Performing Arts said ‘In an

educational climate when we can

become lost in target grades and

statistics, a school production gives our

students the chance to explore who they

are and express themselves as

individuals. They gain an understanding

of what commitment means, they

collaborate across all age groups and

abilities and what is more, they learn

that having fun and working hard aren’t

mutually exclusive. During ‘Billy

Elliot’ I have watched Sixth Formers

give up lunchtimes to run lines with Year

8s; boys work together for hours to per-

fect their choreography; and students

spend their breaks in rehearsals and to

create sets and props. It is an absolute

pleasure to direct a school production -

we will genuinely never tire of the

enjoyment and reward that we get from

seeing students grow in confidence, truly

express themselves, create long-lasting

memories, and, as ‘Billy’ would say: feel

“Free!”’

The title role of ‘Billy Elliot’ was split

between two Year 8 students: Henry

Norden (13) and Toby Hayward (12)

giving both young stars the opportunity

to rest between shows and give the

demanding role their energetic best

across the 4 performances. Violet

Crudge (17) of Year 13 made Billy’s

no-nonsense but kind-hearted dance

teacher, ‘Mrs Wilkinson’ her own while

Dolly Forrester (13) played flamboyant

dance class accompanist, ‘Mrs

Braithwaite’. Billy’s family of

‘Dad’ (Will Young, 17), brother

‘Tony’ (Hal Pett, 15), ‘Grandma’ (Sarah

Corless, 18) and the ghost of Billy’s

mother (Kristen Smith, 18) gave mature

performances, capturing the love,

humour and loyalty of family amidst the

anger, violence and frustration of the

times. Year 11’s Alex Skliros (16) was

excellent as boxing coach and fellow

miner, ‘George;’ while George Furniss

(13) brought superb comic timing to the

role of ‘Michael,’ Billy’s best friend.

The troupe of girl ballet dancers, led by

Thea Pett as ‘Debbie,’ brought terrific,

squealing energy to their performances

and the hugely versatile chorus, playing

the parts of boxing boys, police, miners

and women, brought the whole

production together.

The technical and backstage crew

worked hard to make the whole

production run smoothly while 1980’s

fashion was showcased thanks to the

hard work of wardrobe manager, Mrs

Lynn Rasdall. Miss Catherine Thomas,

as Music Director, ensured that the cast

delivered powerful performances from a

challenging score and the live band,

made up of pupils and staff, was

expertly conducted by Head of Music,

Ms Suzie Buckley.

Mr Morgan was in the audience for the

final matinee performance: ‘Our school’s

production of Billy Elliot has been

simply superb. Performing Arts at The

Cotswold School have never been

stronger and I, like the numerous people

who have seen this show, am so

impressed. Everyone who has taken part

in Billy Elliot should be extremely proud

of this show. It is a considerable

achievement and testament to hours and

hours of work, commitment, dedication

and the extraordinary talent of our

students and our staff.’

More pictures from Billy Elliot the Musical, will be available soon on the News & Events

section of the School website.

Samuel Oram: Opera Star

So Bourton, Any Questions?

Award-winning British baritone, Samuel Oram, is taking time out of his

busy schedule to teach our pupils how to sing!

Samuel, who is currently studying at the Welsh International Academy of

Voice whilst preparing for various concerts, holds a weekly A Capella group in

the Music department every Tuesday lunchtime. The beautiful harmonies were

a testament to Samuel’s enthusiastic and engaging teaching style and of course,

the pupils natural talent!

As well as the A Capella group, Samuel also teaches Classical Singing to male

pupils. If you are interested in having lessons or joining the A Capella group,

please contact: musicadmin@thecotswoldschool.co.uk or pop into the Music

department.

Don’t miss this unique chance to train with one of Britain’s top young baritones!

The Cotswold School was

delighted to host BBC Radio

4's hugely popular Friday night

topical debate programme Any

Questions?

Lead by Jonathan Dimbleby, the

guests panellists, providing lively

debate, were Jacob Rees-Mogg MP,

Diane Abbott MP, Xenia Wickett

(Director of the US Project at

Chatham House, the Royal Institute

of International Affairs) and Lionel

Barber (Editor of the Financial

Times).

Questions, posed by members of the

audience centred around the

inauguration of US President

Donald Trump, impacts of Brexit,

and concerns for the country's

future. Serious debate lead to much

cheering and boo-ing from an

enthusiastic 400-strong

Cotswold audience, reflecting the

split opinions felt across the

country.

The final question posed

was regarding the

likelihood of future

'celebrity' style

leaders. Mr Patrick

Sanders, founding Head

Teacher of The

Cotswold School, asked

the panellists if they would join him

in 'a flutter' as he offered odds that

the future President of the United

States could be a Kardashian. Two

of the panel refused to gamble, Ms

Abbott said she would happily join

Mr Sanders in his flutter, while Mr

Barber said he would

consider backing Kanye West!

Jonathan Dimbleby ended the

evening with a warm farewell from

'the finest secondary school in the

land!' raising a cheer from the local

audience.

Cotswold School students Grace

Foakes (15) played a key role as

student event coordinator for the

evening, with Lucy Ottaway (15)

and Hattie Jackson (14) assisting as

runners. Sam Jones (14) worked on

the mixing desk providing sound and

lighting and working alongside the

BBC production team. Meanwhile,

Cotswold Sixth Formers, Sophie

Price, Lucy Kitching, Rachel

Davies, Joe Salf and Joe Harper

oversaw Front of House duties on

the night. Principal Mr Morgan

said, 'We are a school that encour-

ages debate and challenges percep-

tions so we were especially pleased

to be able to host the Any Ques-

tions? programme. Cotswold School

students were not only in the Any

Questions? audience but also in-

volved in the production behind the

scenes. It has been a fantastic

experience for us all.'

Below L-R: Xenia Wickett, Diane Abbot, Hatty Jackson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Jonathan Dimbleby, Mr Morgan, Grace Foakes, Lucy Kitching, Lionel Barber, Lucy Ottaway, Joe Harper, Joe Salf and Sophie Price

Right: Sam Jones with Jonathan Dimbleby

We are delighted that our school Breakfast Club has once again been awarded a much needed boost to its coffers, in the form of a £1000 grant from Kellogg’s breakfast cereals. Mr Hunt, a prominent member of the Breakfast Club, has recently completed an online training course with Kellogg’s, designed to enhance this extremely popular service. The free training course, developed by Northumbria University, gave practical support and advice on how to run an effective breakfast club covering aspects such as child nutrition, food hygiene, advertising and how to access other sources of funding. This is not the first time Mr Hunt has received equipment funding from Kellogg’s, having also been lucky enough to win £600 after entering three of the company’s national competitions, including his recent £200 Christmas boost, a total now of £1,600! With the winnings, the Breakfast Club team has already purchased a new six-slice toaster and branded mugs to help speed up breakfast production, setting the pupils up with a nutritious meal for the day ahead. With this most recent £1000 grant, Mr Hunt says, “We are aiming to improve catering equipment as well as buying much needed items to meet the demands of the ever growing Breakfast Club (e.g. new mugs). In addition, I would like to use the money to continue the schools view on healthy eating and promote this more, and to look into more healthy food and drink options”.

Kellogg’s Boosts Breakfast Club Again

The week beginning November 21st saw Year 7 students invited to take part in lunchtime practical activities with Dr Bettington and the Sixth Form Chemistry subject ambassadors to celebrate Chemistry Week. Students studied the chromatography of sweets and enjoyed removing the coloured dyes from skittles using paintbrushes and water and discovering that several different coloured substances are often found to make up the colour of a single sweet. David Walliams’ Gangsta Granny’s favourite food—yes, cabbage! - was also used to make an acid-base indicator.

Students mashed up the vegetable and extracted the deep blue-purple liquid to test on acids and alkalis, producing pink, purple and blue solutions. In the third session, students made bouncy custard balls and enthusiastically competed with each other to make the bounciest one. In the final session pupils made bath bombs and Sixth Form subject ambassador, Alex Darwent, demonstrated the ‘Screaming jelly baby’ reaction. The large amount of energy stored in the sugary sweet was made very clear by the violent reaction that ensued along with purple fiery sparks!

Overall, students thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and commented on how ‘fun and exciting’ they were.

Chemistry Week

THE COTSWOLD SCHOOL PTA ANNUAL QUIZ NIGHT

FRIDAY 10th MARCH 2017 at 7.30pm at The Cotswold School

* TEAMS OF UP TO 4 * £15 per TEAM * LICENSED BAR & RAFFLE *

* FREE SNACKS AND SANDWICHES *

Please contact Anita Torris on anita.zantor@yahoo.co.uk to enter a team

ALL PROCEEDS GO TO BENEFIT THE SCHOOL!

The Oxbridge Six We are delighted that six of our students from The Cotswold

School are holding offers from Oxford and Cambridge

Universities.

Mr White, Head of Sixth Form says, “They have all worked

tremendously hard over the years to put themselves in a strong

position from which to apply, backed by great teaching and amazing

support from parents and friends. It is wonderful that their

enthusiasm and talent has been recognised by these prestigious

universities.

This continues an enviable record of Oxbridge successes from

Cotswold students in recent years, including last year, when five of

our students began their degrees at Oxford (3) and Cambridge (2). I

am so pleased for these students and for all our Sixth Form leav-

ers who secure excellent places at universities or in apprenticeships

or employment. With the current debate about selective education,

The Cotswold School shows that students of all abilities, including the

most able students, can gain an outstanding education at a

comprehensive. And we'll continue to strive to improve on our

previous best.”

Alex Barter - Cipher, so Good!

Alex Barter, Year 13, has finally

achieved his four-year ambition - to

be crowned National Cipher

Challenge champion 2017.

The National Cipher Challenge is a

nationwide, online, codebreaking

competition with competitors from over

700 UK schools and colleges taking part

each year.

Alex has previously had success with his

cryptography teammates, the Grizzly

Armadillos, coming second in last year’s

competition. This year he entered as an

individual and came 1st with maximum

points, winning the Gold Award and the

GCHQ prize of £1000!

He says of the decoding Challenges,

“The last challenge was the hardest, as

it is meant to be. I completed it in about

one hour and 20 minutes. The person

who came second completed it

somewhere between one hour and 20

minutes and five hours as he too got

maximum points. It looked like this:

10200 20020 12002 11120 00210 02010

21012 10021 10201 12011 20002 00101

11210 10011 21… but was much longer

- 32,000 characters.” Alex then had to

decipher the code which translated into a

lengthy letter. He has written a

codebreaking programme which he has

used in past competitions, but unfortu-

nately this was little help to him this

time.

Alex is quoted on the Cipher Challenge

website, "Challenge 8B came as quite a

shock, I was expecting a cipher which

had a known algorithm and its strength

coming from the vast key space. Enigma,

3x3 Hill and playfair cipher were some I

was preparing for. However, 8Bs com-

plexity did not come from a large key

space but from that the algorithm was

unknown.”.

“I am very happy to have won!!”, says

Alex.

So are we - CONGRATULATIONS!

Kyla Bentinck-Hinton Reading Bio Chemistry at St Anne’s College, Oxford

Theo Godfrey Reading Engineering at

Brasenose College, Oxford

Sophie Taylor Reading Geography at

Worcester College, Oxford

Luke Milner Reading Earth Sciences at St Anne’s College, Oxford

Henry Yates Reading Natural Sciences at Churchill College, Cambridge

Joe Salf Reading Medicine at

Somerville College, Oxford

Electronic Questionnaires In a new development we are trialling the annual questionnaire for each year group on Survey Monkey (hard copies available

from reception upon request). Year 8 parents are the trailblazers and they should have received a link in a separate email at the

time of notification of the Parents’ Evening itself. Please do take few minutes to complete – the feedback we get is extremely

helpful and enables us to improve our practice. If you can’t find the link it may well be worth checking your spam or junk

folder in case the email has gone astray in there. We will also be undertaking a revamp of the questionnaire to be more key

stage specific in future.

- Mrs Hudson, Assistant Principal

Rotary Young Writers

Rotary Young Chefs The District semi-final of the Rotary

Young Chef competition was held at

The Cotswold School this January.

The Rotary judge was very impressed

with the high standards of this year’s

competitors and we are delighted that

two of our Year 10 pupils have gone

through to the District Final at the end of

February—Lucas Butler, who came first

and Grace Francis, who came second.

The Lucky Onion Group were gracious

enough to provide two professional

chefs from No. 131, Cheltenham to help

with judging.

Lucas and Grace went on to the next

round, the District Final on 26th

February, with professional chefs David

Kelman (Great British Menu) and

Wayne Sullivan (finalist on Masterchef

the Professionals) judging the competi-

tion.

Ms Lamb says, “The competition was

extremely high and Lucas and Grace

were pitted against students studying

catering at college.

They both did fantastically well—

highlights included Lucas’ pan fried

mackerel starter and Grace’s smoky

pepper roulade—but unfortunately,

didn’t make it through to the next

round.”

Well done to you both!

Young writers had their talents tested by the Rotary of the

North Cotswolds, in their annual Young Writers competition.

Entrants were set the task of writing a 500 word piece based

on the theme of ‘Reflection’. Rotarian Mike Boyes said:

“Several of the young writers composed short stories around

the idea of a mirror as a reflection of life. Another highly

original approach observed life through the prism of a drop

of water. Then there was a beautifully descriptive piece about

a peaceful meadow, a place for reflection, a place to consid-

er promises made and promises broken."

Congratulations to the winners and runners-up in the Rotary

Young Writer competition, held in December 2016.

Standards were impressively high with many of the entries

showing considerable imagination and some commendably

fluent writing, on the theme of 'Reflection'. The Senior age

group winner was Rosie Bowers. In the Intermediate age

group the winner was Eleanor Plater, with Mariola Rosser

second ..... and Dolly Forrester third. Our thanks to English

Teacher Mrs Lindis Dobson for her help in organising the

competition, and we wish good luck to the winners in the

next round.

In addition, Eleanor Plater came second in the Rotary Young

Writers District competition in January. She had previously

won the local competition.

Well done, Ellie!

The Gym Centre Cheltenham has been running gymnastics

classes in school for many years. They currently have a few

places available to pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 on Mondays

from 3.30pm.

If you are interested, please contact Martin Collett directly

on: 01451 820015 or via their website.

Nick Key: Flying High Flying helicopters since he was just

14 years old, Nick Key flew solo

shortly after his 16th

birthday. He

was one of the youngest people to

have flown the R22 helicopter in UK

airspace.

Nick Key is currently a student in The

Cotswold School’s Sixth Form and as

well as aiming to achieve some

excellent A level results, Nick is

working towards his Private Pilot’s

Licence [PPL(H)]. His next goal: to

complete his Commercial Pilot’s

Licence. With that in hand, Nick wants

to work for the Metropolitan Police,

piloting their air support unit.

Learning to fly helicopters is an

expensive business and Nick has funded

all of his lessons himself – no mean feat

when you have to find £400 for every

hour of flying. Despite his best efforts,

however, funding is a

struggle and to make

things just a little tougher,

the clock is now against

him.

Nick has been offered the

amazing opportunity to go

for his Commerical Pilots

Licence (CPL) on a schol-

arship. However, in order

to qualify he has to first

complete his PPL by July

2017. The result is:

Nick must find £2,500 to

pay for what he needs in order to

qualify for his PPL. No matter how

hard Nick works in part time jobs that

fit around school hours and his A

Levels, this sort of sum is out of reach.

Resourceful and focused as ever, Nick

has opened a crowd funding page

www.rotaryflying.com. If you, or

anyone you know can help Nick, we

know this driven young person would

be enormously grateful for any

donations given. If you would like to

contact Nick to ask further questions

about his flying ambitions, request his

CV or view references, please email:

nicksflying2000@gmail.com

By Tisa Maunder-Bushell, Year 8 Before the Christmas holidays a group of around thirty students, from years seven to nine, went on a Rewards Trip to Oxford for working extremely hard during the first term. The day started with a trip to the Pitt Rivers Museum of Art and Archaeology, where we got to see and learn about things from Ancient Cyprus to Western Art Drawings. Next we visited Christ Church College; here we got a tour of Christ Church Cathedral and saw the famous Harry Potter staircase (great excitement for all as you can imagine). We ended the

day by exploring the Covered Market and had a chance to buy souvenirs. A highlight of the day came on the coach ride home as Mrs Newby was kind enough to buy brownies for everyone. We had clearly all been so well behaved…thanks Miss!! We all enjoyed the trip very much and it helped motivate us to carry on working hard. My favourite part was visiting the Pitt Rivers Museum and seeing all the interesting exhibits on display. A special thanks to all the teachers who took us and I hope to be invited to the next Rewards Trip.

Oxford Rewards Trip

Niamh and Bethan Powell got the new

year off to a flying start by achieving a

family first - both being officially

named as Gloucestershire County

Club Cross Country Champions in

their respective age groups for 2017!

They will now go on to represent

Gloucestershire County Club Squad in

Loughborough at the Nationals on 11th

March, which is covered by Sky Sports

each year.

Both girls also competed for the

Gloucestershire County School Squad in

the South West Schools Finals in Truro

earlier this month, both, once again,

placing first in their respective age

groups! These exceptional results now

qualify them for the English Schools

Finals on 18th March.

Well done Niamh and

Bethan on your

incredible achievements,

and Good Luck for the

Finals!

Powell Sisters Reign Supreme

Christmas and New Year were a busy time in Languages

as we explored the varying traditions of different countries and

for many groups this meant food tasting in one guise or another.

On the other hand it is the quieter time of year in MFL with regard to trips but peak season is fast

approaching with the German and French exchanges off at the end of March followed by the French,

German and Spanish Key Stage 3 trips in May. Watch this space for a report on the exchanges in the

next edition!

Pupils will soon be taking part in our Vocab Express Globe Challenge when they use our vocabulary

learning software not only to improve their language skills, but also to compete against other schools

from all over the world. The more words they learn the more points they score – the tension will rise

as we monitor the leader board, not only to see who is in first place at The Cotswold School, but also

to check how we are doing against other schools. We have had considerable success at this in previous

years so we are looking forward to winning further certificates. The challenge is from March 1st-8th

and we will report back in the next edition.

- Mrs Hudson, Assistant Principal

Governors’ Corner

Governors have once more been busy and have spent

this half term discussing various aspects of School life

including safeguarding at School, e-safety, wellbeing of

students and staff, and monitoring of the new Sixth

Form build which is due to get underway in the near

future.

At this point in the year Governors also undertake a

mid-year review of the school’s development plan. Are

we on track with our proposed objectives for the academic

year? These fall in to four broad areas:

1) Attainment

2) Teaching, Learning and Assessment

3) Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare

4) Leadership and Management.

Thank you as always to the Governors who devote so

much of their time for the benefit of our school.

- Mrs Hudson, Clerk to Governors

Car Parking Issues Protecting and safeguarding our pupils is paramount at The Cotswold School, therefore, could we please

reiterate to parents and carers that there is no drop off by car on School grounds in the morning.

As part of the national curriculum, schools are required to

enhance students’ Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural

(SMSC) development. We enhance SMSC development

through the curriculum itself (such as the study of Religious

Education, Philosophy, Belief and Ethics) and through extra-

curricular activities too.

We were therefore very pleased to host SOUL SPACE, an

event designed to 'de-mystify' the concept of prayer and pro-

vide spaces for reflection and meditation.

Throughout the day, groups of students from years 7, 8 and

9 (and some sixth form students who begged to attend too!)

visited the School Hall which was set up with a variety of

stations - or Soul Spaces - each representing a particular

issue or concept to consider. Students could choose to take

part in the activities at any of the Spaces, as they felt com-

fortable.

The Soul Spaces included:

1. Big Questions: a space that gave students the opportunity

to express their questions about ideas, beliefs, life and death,

hopes and fears.

2. Being Sorry: an activity that encouraged us to consider

things we might have said or done that we regret, and the

opportunity to symbolically wipe the slate clean.

3. Reconciliation Zips: zips, with two sides that can be

drawn back together, represented people or communities or

countries where we hope to see reconciliation and peace.

4. Finger Printing: a place to celebrate and be grateful for

our individuality.

5. Mirrors: an opportunity to see and think about yourself in

a positive way.

6. Prayer Wall: similar to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem,

students could post their thoughts and prayers on the wall.

7. Fizzy Forgiveness: this activity was about forgiveness

and letting go of hurt and anger.

8. Cardboard Home: an opportunity to reflect upon children

and young people of a similar age who live in poverty.

We were very impressed with the maturity and thoughtful-

ness with which our students approached this event. Thank

you to Mrs Holland, Head of Philosophy, Belief and Ethics

and Head of SMSC provision, for organising this visit.

Soul Space

Sixth Form Extension

We are pleased to inform you that

planning permission has been

granted on our latest building

project.

Building work will soon commence

on the new Sixth Form block.

Watch this space for updates!